After the successful Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, the assassination of Francisco Pizarro in 1541, and the execution of his main antagonist, Diego de Almagro (1538) and his son, El Mozo (1542), most of the competent commanders of the recently founded New Castile Governorate had been lost in the ensuing power struggle. In 1540, second in line of the Pizarro brothers, Hernando Pizarro, returned to Spain to defend the question of his and his brothers' reign in Peru against accusations of abuse of power. He was eventually imprisoned on orders of King Charles. The Almagristas, followers of Diego de Almagro, met their downfall in the battle of Chupas on September 16, 1542. Two years later, King Charles eventually sent his own envoy, Blasco Núñez Vela, as governor over the recently found V